Can you believe that Barack Obama? After all kinds of heat over his Administration’s fancy bout of homophobic legal briefs, he’s decided to offer domestic partner benefits to Federal employees.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn’t yet signed the presidential memorandum.

The official said Obama would release more details on Wednesday.

-SNIP-

In the meantime, the administration has tried to make small, quiet moves to extend benefits to gays and lesbians. The State Department has promised to give partners of gay and lesbian diplomats many benefits, such as diplomatic passports and language training.

But without a specific change in the Federal Employees’ Health Benefits Program, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s promises left out financial benefits such as pensions. Obama’s move could make that shift.

Rather than make up some silly story about how this push for equality (after such nasty homophobic behavior from the Obama crew of late) is going to ruin the fight for health care in this country, let’s be honest: Barack Obama promised to push equality, to stop discrimination in the workplace, to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and to combat the Defense of Marriage Act. So it’s high time he did something.